Wiki News/'Toy Story 3' Set To Clean Up At Box Office
(RTTNews) - Backed by enormous critical support and two highly successful earlier entries in the franchise, "Toy Story 3" seems to have everything going for it this weekend as it launches across the country. While it's a foregone conclusion that "Toy Story" will land atop the charts this weekend, PG-13 action-thriller "Jonah Hex" also gets released, though it may have a hard time appealing to its target demographic. When "Toy Story" first was released back in 1995, Pixar was nothing more than a fledgling animation studio looking to find its niche. Thanks in no small part to "Toy Story" and "Toy Story 2," though, Pixar has quickly established itself as the gold standard in contemporary animation, consistently churning out critically-lauded hits with tremendous commercial appeal; six out of the last seven Pixar releases have crossed $500 million worldwide with five of them winning Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards. Eleven years since Pixar released "Toy Story 2," it now will distribute "Toy Story 3" to more than 4,000 total venues across the country. All of the big names in its all-star cast are back as well, including Tom Hanks, Tim Allen and a variety of others, which will lend it instant credibility. Though "Toy Story" essentially launched Pixar, the first two entries were released at a time when the worldwide revenues simply weren't the same as they are today. Considering that "Alice in Wonderland" was able to reach $1 billion in worldwide revenue for Disney already this year, "Toy Story 3" has a very good shot to do the same. The only thing potentially going against "Toy Story 3" is that younger children may not be as familiar with the earlier entries in the series. But Disney has been marketing "Toy Story" merchandise for well over a year and has re-released the first two films both in theaters and on DVD, which should allow younger audiences to be very familiar with the premise. Considering the quality of the first two and the critical praise of the new entry, "Toy Story 3" should have no problem cleaning up with the family demographic. With the added revenues from its 3D screenings, "Toy Story 3" could very well eclipse $100 million, which is very hard to do for a G-rated, family feature. Even if it doesn't, though, it should still have a long and very lucrative run in theaters. Aimed at a much different demographic is "Jonah Hex," which stars Josh Brolin and Megan Fox. Brolin is a well respected actor but doesn't necessarily have a tremendous amount of commercial appeal. Megan Fox, though she co-stars in the "Transformers" series, also hasn't fared very well in releases not helmed by blockbuster director Michael Bay. The upside for "Jonah Hex" is the mediocre performance last weekend by "The A-Team." With "Prince of Persia" winding down and "The A-Team" underachieving, "Jonah Hex" will have a significant audience to appeal to, though it lacks much fanfare heading into its release. Warner Brothers is even hesitant about its box office appeal, as evidenced by its release of just 2,825 theaters - a very low total for a big-budget action film in the middle of the summer schedule. "Jonah Hex" will still land in the top five, but probably will earn less than $20 million for the weekend. Heading into its second weekend in theaters for the second place just like last week, "The Karate Kid" continues to excel with its target demographic. Though it will definitely lose some of its family audience to "Toy Story 3" this weekend, families have responded very positively to the release thus far, helping it rack up more than $70 million in domestic revenue before even heading into its second weekend. For a movie that cost just $40 million to produce, "The Karate Kid" is already a tremendous success for Sony/Columbia; even with "Toy Story 3" in theaters, that success should continue. Next weekend, PG-13 comedy "Grown Ups" is in a great spot to appeal to its target audience with minimal comedy competition currently in theaters. With stars Adam Sandler, Kevin James, David Spade, Chris Rock and others, "Grown Ups" is a well-calculated release that should be a very big hit among Sandler fans. Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz also star in the action-comedy "Knight & Day," launching this upcoming Wednesday at more than 3,000 theaters. "Will & Grace" will be having battle against "Toy Story 3" and "The Karate Kid", and is set to be lauching at more than 3,400 theaters. RTT Box Office Predictions For 6/18 - 6/20 (In Millions): 1) Toy Story 3 (Disney/Buena Vista): $100 2) The Karate Kid (Sony/Columbia): $28 3) Sonic X: Return to Soleanna (Fox): $21 4) Jonah Hex (Warner Brothers): $17 5) The A-Team (Fox): $13 6) Shrek Forever After (Paramount/Dreamworks): $7.8 7) Get Him to the Greek (Universal): $6.8 8) Killers (Lionsgate): $4.5 9) Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (Buena Vista): $3.2 10) Marmaduke (Fox): $2.3